Location Privacy in Device-Dependent Location-Based Services: Challenges and Solution

With the evolution of location-based services (LBS), a new type of LBS has already gain a lot of attention and implementation, we name this kind of LBS as the Device-Dependent LBS (DLBS). In DLBS, the service provider (SP) will not only send the information according to the user’s location, more significant, he also provides a service device which will be carried by the user. DLBS has been successfully practised in some of the large cities around the world, for example, the shared bicycle in Beijing and London. In this paper, we, for the first time, blow the whistle of the new location privacy challenges caused by DLBS, since the service device is enabled to perform the localization without the permission of the user. To conquer these threats, we design a service architecture along with a credit system between DLBS provider and the user. The credit system tie together the DLBS device usability with the curious behaviour upon user’s location privacy, DLBS provider has to sacrifice their revenue in order to gain extra location information of their device. We make the simulation of our proposed scheme and the result convince its effectiveness.     

Changes in chemical composition of the kew cultivar of pineapple fruit during development

The chemical composition of the Kew cultivar of Indian pineapple (Ananas cosmosus L.) was studied after 65 days (pre-mature), 100 days (early mature), and 150 days (late-mature) from flowering. The fruit was analysed for sugars, amino acids and minerals. Total soluble carbohydrates increased from 6.02 to 9.24%, and protein content decreased from 0.69 to 0.21%, during the fruit-development process. The vitamin C content decreased from 20.4 to 11.1 mg 100 g^?1 edible fruit during development. Fructose, glucose and sucrose together constituted approximately 5.0% (pre-mature), 2.4% (early mature), and 1.2% (late-mature) of fresh weight. The contents of iron, boron and zinc increased during development. The major minerals in the mature fruit were potassium (31.33 mg 100 g^?1), phosphorus (3.13 mg 100 g^?1), calcium (3.92 mg 100 g^?1), sodium (2.63 mg 100 g^?1), iron (3.22 mg 100 g^?1), zinc (0.55 mg 100 g^?l), and copper (0.06 mg 100 g^?1) of fresh sample. The content of most amino acids decreased during development; only aspartic acid showed a considerable increase in the late-mature fruit.     

Less common causes of carpal tunnel syndrome

A new DRB3*02 allele (DRB3*0207) was detected in a female Luxembourg Caucasian blood donor by sequence-based typing. The new allele differs from DRB3*0202 by two substitutions in codon 57 resulting in an amino acid change from a charged aspartic acid to a neutral valine. This is the first example of a DRB3 allele pair differing only at codon 57.     

Converters for Supplying Pulsed Power Loads

There is a growing need for supplying repetitive pulsed power loads of increasing magnitudes up to several hundred megawatts or more in areas of radar, lasers, high-energy physics experiments and thermonuclear fusion. The nature of such loads can be expected to be as diverse as their applications. The pulsed power demands and corresponding reactive volt-amperes requirements are undesirable from the frequency and voltage fluctuation standpoint, even for the large utility power systems. Techniques for supplying large dc-pulsed loads from a relatively small size ac generator by means of inductive storage and the capacitor commutated converters are presented. A theoretical basis is provided for analyzing the converters which serve to minimize the effects of pulsed power and corresponding reactive volt-amperes. Energy transfer between the storage inductor and the pulsed load is permitted with minimal loss, at a readily controllable rate including the reversibility of power in case of inductive loads. Use of a simple control scheme is shown to provide a precise load voltage regulation which may be a requirement for certain applications. The greatest use of these circuits would be in supplying loads with pulse durations of a few milliseconds to many seconds or minutes.     

Anhydrous esterification of myristic acid with propylene: Ion exchange resin and acid-treated clay as catalysts

Anhydrous esterification of myristic acid with propylene was carried out in the temperature range of 110–145°C and pressure from 190–195 psig in the presence of Amberlyst-15 (cation exchange resin) and Filtrol-24 (acid-treated clay) as catalysts. The product ester, isopropyl myristate finds use in cosmetic and topical medicinal preparations where good absorption through the skin is desired. Filtrol-24 is the catalyst of choice, and the recommended operating temperature is 130°C with a pressure of 190 psig.     

Use of rice bran oil and epoxidized rice bran oil in carbon black–filled natural rubber–polychloroprene blends

In the present study we report the results obtained on the use of rice bran oil (RBO), a naturally occurring nontoxic oil, and its epoxidized variety (epoxidized RBO, or ERBO) in the compounding and vulcanization of different natural rubber–chloroprene rubber (NR–CR) blends. The processability, cure characteristics, and physical properties of the blends prepared with these oils were compared with those of control mixes prepared with aromatic oil. The optimum cure time and scorch time values of the different blends prepared with these oils were found to be lower than those of the respective control blends prepared with aromatic oil. Evaluation of physical properties of the different experimental blends showed that replacement of aromatic oil with these oils did not adversely affect their physical properties. Because RBO contains a good amount of free fatty acids it was tried as a coactivator in addition to its role as a processing aid. The level of these oils required for the blend preparation was optimized in a Brabender plasticorder. Physical properties such as tensile strength, elongation at break, tear strength, swelling index, and abrasion loss, for example, were evaluated for both experimental and control mixes. Comparison of cure characteristics and physical properties of the blends prepared with aromatic oil and with these oils showed that these oils could be used in place of aromatic oil in the above blends. It is also to be noted that aromatic oil is of petroleum origin and is reported to be carcinogenic. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 4084–4092, 2003     

NdFeAsO1−xFx Superconductor – Impact of Fluorine Variation on Microstructure and Transport Properties

Polycrystalline samples of NdFeAsO_1?xF_x (Nd1111) with x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 were synthesized using a solid‐state method at ambient pressures. A maximum transition temperature (T_C) of 52.0 K and a J_C of 1050 A/cm² at 12 K were observed for x = 0.3 and 0.4, respectively. The transport and magnetic properties observed for each stoichiometry have remarkable correlation with their corresponding structural and microstructural aspects. Moreover, the superconducting properties exhibited in this material, processed at a relatively low temperature of 1000°C, are competitive as compared to the existing reports wherein high pressures/temperatures are inevitable.     

Maya crude hydrodemetallization and hydrodesulfurization catalysts: An effect of TiO2 incorporation in Al2O3

Hydrotreating of Maya heavy crude oil over high specific surface area CoMo/TiO₂–Al₂O₃ oxide supported catalysts was studied in an integral reactor close to industrial practice. Activity studies were carried out with Maya crude hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodemetallization (HDM), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), and hydrodeasphaltenization (HDAs) reactions. The effect of support composition, the method of TiO₂ incorporation, and the catalyst deactivation are examined. Supported catalysts are characterized by BET specific surface area (SSA), pore volume (PV), pore size distribution (PSD), and atomic absorption. It has been found that sulfided catalysts showed a wide range of activity variation with TiO₂ incorporation into the alumina, which confirmed that molybdenum sulfided active phases strongly depend on the nature of support. The pore diameter and nature of the active site for HDS, HDM, HDN, and HDAs account for the influence of the large reactant molecules restricted diffusion into the pore, and/or the decrease in the number of active sites due to the MoS₂ phases buried with time-on-stream. The textural properties and hysteresis loop area of supported and spent catalysts indicated that catalysts were deactivated at the pore mouth due to the metal and carbon depositions. The atomic absorption results agreed well regarding the textural properties of spent catalysts. Thus, incorporation of TiO₂ with γ-Al₂O₃ alters the nature of active metal interaction with support, which may facilitate the dispersion of active phases on the support surface. Therefore, the TiO₂ counterpart plays a promoting role to HDS activity due to the favorable morphology of MoS₂ phases and metal support interaction.